Women and men in the informal economy: A statistical picture. Third edition

This publication provides for the first time comparable estimates on the size of the informal economy and a statistical profile of informality in all its diversity at the global and regional levels.

Two billion workers — representing 61.2 per cent of the world’s employed population — are in informal employment.

The third edition of this work provides, for the first time, comparable estimates on the size of the informal economy and a statistical profile of informality in all its diversity at the global and regional levels. A common set of criteria to measure informal work has been applied to more than 100 countries, both developed and developing.

The publication is particularly timely given the momentum created by the Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204) and the Sustainable Development Goals, which include a specific global indicator on informal employment (8.3.1).